We’re with you if you like the Audi TT’s shape—even if it’s not as iconic as its predecessor, it is still unique among sports cars—and we forgive you if you have thought the TT was kind of a boulevard cruiser. To be sure, its dynamic capabilities are beyond what most owners would dare to try, but it falls a bit short in the power department. The choice of a 200-hp turbo four or a 250-hp V-6 leaves the TT well short of the Porsche Boxster/Cayman siblings and the high-powered versions of the BMW Z4 and Mercedes SLK.

Audi is determined to be known as Germany’s sportiest carmaker, and thus the 250-hp, 3.2-liter V-6 could not be the end of the road for the TT. And so the TTS’s engine—available in the coupe or roadster—delivers 265 horsepower, 15 more than the V-6 and up a more impressive 65 horsepower over the 2.0-liter TFSI four-cylinder engine on which it is based. To enable this gain, the engine block, the cylinder head, the pistons, and the connecting rods were all upgraded.